Handicap Changes, Reminders and Updates

For more information on the following, including charts and tables, click here => Posting Scores

If you have noticed one or more of the following, this is what is going on:

When posting online, you are not given tees rated for women

If you are posting a score from a course, but are given no tees rated for women, you should post your score as unlisted tees with the appropriate course and slope rating.  You should then email me regarding the problem.  I will contact GAM to get the problem corrected.  There is a glitch in the GAM system that causes this problem to sporadically occur.  It is an easy fix, but no one knows the source of the problem.

Your index changes between revision periods

All scores should be posted during the revision period they are played in.  If you are posting online, scores should be posted before 12:01 AM on the last day of the month or on the 14th, before the revision date , which is on the 1st and the 15th of each month.  Any scores posted for rounds played during a previous revision period will immediately update your handicap record and could cause your index to change between revision periods. 

You may have two GAM index records with the same member number. Sometimes the indexes are different.

MWGA members that post scores with another GAM club or organization, will have a handicap record under MWGA and another under the club they post with.  The indexes should be identical unless the club you are posting with is still under the old GAM system (green highlights with “In-Transit” scores.  The new GAM system (blue highlights with a “Trend” score) will update scores reported for a previous posting period immediately.  The old system will put these scores “In-Transit” and will not update your index until your club pulls in these scores.

Sometimes we forget or just don’t understand:

Post all scores even when you don’t finish a round or pickup on a hole

All scores played under the USGA Rules of Golf should be posted.  This includes scores from match play, and best balls (four-ball) even when you don’t finish a hole.  The USGA is very specific on how you score unfinished holes.  For holes not played at all (i.e. a rain-out, play stopped due to darkness, have to leave due to an emergency) if you have played at least 7 holes of a 9-hole round, or at least 13 hole of an 18 hole round the unplayed holes should be scored as par plus your handicap stokes for each unplayed hole.  If playing match play or a best ball and you pick up because a stoke or hole is conceded or you are clearly out of a hole, report the score that you would have most likely scored (this score does not have to exceed your ESC)

Can’t remember your GAM Username and Password

Send an email to Handicap@mwgolf.org and we will get that information for you.

ESC, Slope and Course Rating Adjustments, Posting Periods

For more information on the following, including charts and tables, click here => Posting Scores

1. Before posting scores, adjust for ESC (Equitable Stroke Control). 

2. When the course has a set of rated tees for women, but you are playing from a different set of tees or you are mixing tees, the course and slope ratings should be adjusted based on the actual yardage you played.  Take the difference between the yardage of the rated tees and the yardage you played, then using the USGA’s “Women’s Rating Adjustment” add the appropriate numbers to the course and slope ratings.

Address any handicap questions or issues to Handicap@mwgolf.org.